A Few Improvements
by forensicsfan
Summary: COMPLETE - NS - You never knew that a trip to Home Depot could change your life.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always a cup of coffee with George and Jorja would be nice, or perhaps I should set my sights a bit higher and ask them to join me for dinner.

**Author's Note:** After wandering the aisles of Home Depot over the weekend this idea came to me; and you never knew they had the remedy for writer's block.

* * *

Sara Sidle was close to developing a migraine. All she had wanted to do was take a quick trip to the local home improvement warehouse to buy a finial for a lamp she'd picked up at a yard sale. The problem was, the person who was attempting to help her really had no idea what a finial was, and at the moment she was clenching her jaw in an attempt to refrain from saying something nasty. It was her first night off in two weeks and she didn't need help from someone on their first day of work. She took a deep breath and interrupted the twenty-something man. "Look. I'll just come back."

"No, I'm sure we can find what it is you're looking for. I'll go get my manager or something." The poor guy looked seriously intimidated by Sara.

Sara let out an audible sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure." She wasn't sure that she'd be there when the rookie employee returned, but at least she'd get a few seconds of peace while she looked through the lighting accessory section for a replacement finial.

She didn't really pay attention to the sound of approaching footsteps until she felt a hand on her waist, causing her to immediately stiffen and spin around, ready to confront whoever was invading her personal space, the sound of the drawl not quite registering until she was face to face with one of her coworkers.

"I scared you, didn't I?" Nick Stokes grinned at her.

Sara smirked and shook her head. "I thought you were the Home Depot Rookie coming back to offer me more misinformation."

Nick chuckled. "And you were gonna clock him, weren't you?"

She arched her brows quickly and couldn't help but laugh herself. "So what brings you here? I would have figured that you'd be out clubbing on your night off."

Nick feigned a hurt expression.

Sara smirked again, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "I just meant that I figured you'd be out doing something fun rather than working on some home improvement project."

He smiled at her. "Well, I kind of like home improvement projects. I've been replacing my light fixtures, and I just came to pick up a ceiling fan I ordered." He tilted his head in curiosity. "What brings you here, slow night on the police scanners?" His tone was full of teasing.

"For your information, I've picked up a hobby or two outside of law enforcement. I just needed to buy a new finial for a lamp I bought." She furrowed her brow and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone and gestured towards the front of the store. "Only the Home Depot Rookie doesn't know what one is."

Nick spoke in an equally conspiratorial tone, putting his arm around her shoulder as he began to propel them down the end of the lighting aisle. "As it so happens, I know where to find those."

She found herself giggling.

As the rounded the end of the aisle, Nick pointed to the finials. "There you go." He grinned at her.

She smiled at him genuinely. "Thanks Nick. I'm sure I'd have found them eventually, but maybe not before they closed."

Nick looked at her a little surprised. "A CSI like you?"

She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at him, trying to keep from smiling. "I may be the best CSI on the night shift, but it doesn't mean that I completely understand the logic of product placement in these stores."

"Oh, and she's humble too." Nick teased and then leaned forward and whispered loudly in her ear. "Don't let Warrick and Catherine know that you're the best CSI, they might get jealous."

She pushed him away playfully and giggled. "Oh, and you're not jealous."

He feigned shock. "Me? What have I to be jealous of?" He knew that she wasn't being serious, they all had strengths and weaknesses as CSIs and it was the combination of those that help to make them the number two lab in the country.

Sara just smirked. "I suppose I should pick out one of these finials that you so helpfully showed me where to find."

"I suppose that might be a good idea, seeing as how that's why you're here." He just grinned at her.

She quickly picked a finial off of the display and looked back at Nick, tilting her head ever so slightly. "So what does this ceiling fan of yours look like?"

Excitement began to dance in his eyes. "Well, I wanted the blades to match the wood of the beams on my ceiling so I had to special order them, but I figured as long as I was doing that, I might as well make sure the light matched all of my other fixtures." He noticed her amusement and chuckled. "Why don't I just show you?" He gestured towards the front of the lighting section.

They walked up the aisle only to be intercepted by the young man that had been attempting to help Sara. Before he could say anything, Sara held the finial up in her hand. "Found them."

"Great. Sorry about that." He noticed that not only had Sara picked up the finial, it appeared that she'd picked up a guy too. The young man furrowed his brow and fumbled over his words. "I'm glad you found what you came for." He turned and headed back to where he'd come from.

Nick couldn't help the chortle that escaped.

Sara looked over at him, her brows arching upwards. "What?"

Nick smirked. "I think the rookie kinda liked you."

Sara smirked back. "He was only doing his job."

Nick waggled his eyebrows. "Trust me, he was checking you out." He leaned over and whispered. "Not that I blame him, you look kinda hot."

Sara shook her head and giggled. "Please. I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt." Her faded button fly Levi 501s were a pair that she'd had for as long as she could remember, but couldn't bear to throw away until they sprouted a hole that made them indecent to wear, and her Harvard T-shirt was just loose enough to be comfortable while still hugging her slight curves.

Nick smiled and whispered again, his voice a little husky. "And they make you look hot."

Sara felt her cheeks flush pink. "So where is your ceiling fan?" She wasn't sure she wanted to have this conversation with Nick in the middle of Home Depot.

Nick tried to retrain a full blown grin at the way she changed the subject. "Right over there." He pointed towards the Customer Service desk. "I just need to go pick it up."

"Are you going to install it yourself?" Sara queried him as they walked, wondering how in the world you could hold the fan up with one hand while attaching it to the ceiling with the other.

"Well I was gonna wait until I could get Warrick or Greg to help me out with it. It's kind of tricky to do with just two hands." Nick rested a hand on his hip as he handed the order receipt to the person behind the counter of the Customer Service desk.

"I could help you." Sara volunteered a little too quickly in her own mind.

"Really?" Nick's entire face crinkled into a smile. "That would be great."

"Here you go Mr. Stokes." The girl behind the customer service desk was smiling at Nick a bit too brightly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks." He smiled back and then loaded the box with the ceiling fan into a cart before turning towards Sara again. "Have you eaten yet?"

She shook her head, amused at his obliviousness to the girl behind the counter attempting to flirt with him. "No, I hadn't gotten to that yet. I thought this was only going to take ten minutes."

He began wheeling his cart to the checkout line. "Well, I'll stop and pick up some Thai food and then we can install this and just hang out for a while if you want."

"Excellent." Sara couldn't hide her smile at the idea of spending an evening with Nick outside of work.


	2. Chapter 2

Sara sauntered into the Thai restaurant a few moments after Nick and it appeared that he was already in the middle of ordering for them.

"Extra tofu in that please, and could you make it two stars?" He hadn't noticed that she was behind him until she put a hand on his arm.

"Actually, make that three stars." She grinned at Nick. "I like a little extra spice sometimes."

He chuckled and looked at her as if he was filing the image away in the recesses of his mind to pull out at a later date. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned back to the petite Asian woman behind the counter. "I'd also like some Panang Curry with chicken, make that three stars."

"You want rice?" The woman behind the counter must have been no more than five feet tall and her delicate features were still beautiful even though she must have been in her late fifties.

Nick nodded. "Yes, and soup too." He glanced over at Sara and grinned again. "I thought I lost you back at that light."

She smirked. "Well some of us see the yellow light and slow down."

"Yellow isn't red." He teased back.

Sara arched one of her brows. "Still, Mr. Andretti, not everything is a race."

"I prefer Fitapaldi." He smirked in return, looking much more laid back that he usually did while they were at work.

"That will be about ten minutes." The smiling woman noted the flirtatious banter between Nick and Sara and excused herself to the back room near the kitchen.

Sara shook her head as she tried to keep from laughing at him. "So what did you order?"

"Big chunks of tofu. Plain." He tried to look serious, but held it together for just a fraction of a second before he cracked a smile.

Sara snorted. "Even I don't like plain tofu." She arched one of her brows at him doubtfully.

He nudged her with his elbow and smiled, his voice a bit softer. "Eggplant delight with extra tofu for you."

She smiled warmly at him, wondering how he had the ability to put her so at ease. "So do you spend all your nights off working on your house?" Sara queried him, curious to know what he did do on his nights off.

"No." He shook his head and grinned. "Sometimes I cruise the aisles at Home Depot looking for hot women to pick up."

It took her a moment to register what he was saying and as her cheeks began to flush slightly she started to laugh. "Right." She knew he was teasing, but there was a part of her that suddenly wished that he'd really see her that way, and not just as a coworker.

He nudged her with his elbow again. "So what are these hobbies of yours?" He looked at her expectantly.

"Huh?" She glanced at him a bit perplexed since her thoughts had been wandering.

He chuckled. "These hobbies of yours that have nothing to do with law enforcement; what are they?"

She smirked a bit embarrassed. "Well, Pilates for one, but I'm not very good at it yet."

"Staying fit is good." Nick unconsciously glanced down her body noting that she had seemed to have toned up a bit.

Sara smacked his arm. "Stop checking me out." She couldn't keep her smile restrained as she returned the favor.

Nick's eyebrows shot up as he started to laugh. "Oh, and you didn't just check me out." He looked pleased that she actually had.

Sara crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips together. "Interior decorating."

"Huh?" Nick looked momentarily confused and then his face brightened as he realized what she was talking about. "Oh, your other hobby." He smiled. "Is that what the finial is for?"

She nodded. "I was inspired by 'Trading Spaces' and decided my apartment needed a little more personality. I got the lamp for thirty-five cents at a yard sale and it just needed a little work."

"Your order is ready, Nicky." The petite Asian woman emerged from the kitchen with several cartons of food bagged up, smiling at Nick and Sara with a knowing eye.

"Thank you, Edna." Nick grinned at her. He stopped in the Thai restaurant at least once or twice a week and he had struck up a friendly banter with the owner and his wife.

"See you next time." She smiled and waved as Nick grabbed the bags and headed towards the door, pausing to hold it open for Sara who was right behind him.

As he approached his vehicle, Sara stifled a laugh as she watched him try and juggle the bags and get his keys out. She finally reached out and took the bags from him. "You know, it's ok to ask for help." She arched her brows to tease his penchant for showing how manly he was.

"I could have set them on the hood." He reasoned as he pulled out his keys and winked at her. "But thank you."

"Anytime." She smirked back before handing him the bags to set on the floor of his SUV.

"You think you can keep up with me this time?" He challenged as he shut the passenger door and turned to look at her.

"As long as it's legal." She jabbed. It wasn't that she didn't think Nick was a good driver, he just tended to go a little heavy with his foot on the accelerator at times, and since they were driving department issued vehicles, it was probably a good idea to avoid traffic violations.

"Point taken, Ms. Sidle." He grinned at her. He knew that his competitive streak went deep and sometimes he let it cloud his judgement. He would take heed and drive in a very legal and safe manner back to his house.

"But don't drive like your grandmother either." She teased as she strode to her own vehicle.

Nick called out over his shoulder. "She used to drive in the demolition derby." His cheesy grin was a dead giveaway that he was flat out lying, but his comment got its desired result in Sara's guffaw.

Sara shook her head as she climbed behind the wheel wondering what she had gotten herself into. She always enjoyed working with Nick and she had gotten together with him quite often outside of work, but it was usually with Warrick or Greg, or sometimes even Catherine. There had only been about a dozen or so times that they'd gotten together by themselves and most of those had been in the last few months. The flirtatious banter that had gone on between them for the last four years made her wonder if he was serious about his comment about how hot he thought she looked in her worn and faded 501s and her Harvard T-shirt, because his jeans and T-shirt were doing wonders for his body and the thought of it brought a smile to her face.


	3. Chapter 3

Sara popped another bite of eggplant into her mouth and regarded Nick with amusement as he seemed to be eyeing her food even after he'd polished off all of his Panang Curry, her cup of soup, and the remainder of the rice; it was amazing to her that he could eat that much and still look that fit. "So what possessed you to replace all of your light fixtures anyway?"

Nick toyed with the glass of iced tea in his hand as he watched Sara eat. He enjoyed her company on most occasions, and outside of work in a purely social setting, he was finding that he was enjoying it even more. "Well, it started in here." He gestured towards the fixture hanging above them in the living room. "When I had the ceiling repaired, they didn't carry the fixtures that I'd had in here anymore, so I had to pick a new one."

Sara furrowed her brow a bit as she remembered the reason that Nick had to repair his ceiling in the first place. She was perplexed that he hadn't moved after Nigel Crane had stalked him, but she also admired him for dealing with the difficult things of life in such a strong manner. She smiled at him as she noticed him watching her a bit intently.

He smiled back. "I finally decided that I wanted them all to match, so I've been spending some quality time in the lighting aisle at Home Depot."

"Picking up hot chicks." Sara teased, popping another bite into her mouth and leaning back into the soft leather of the couch.

He smirked at her. "Actually, you're the first." He laughed as he watched the color creep into her cheeks as she let out a little snort and then started coughing on her food. He reached over and patted her on the back.

She shot him a bit of a glare as she finally stopped coughing. "Some of us are still trying to eat here." Her glare gave way to pursed lips that were trying to keep from smiling at him.

He cocked an eyebrow at her in mock concern. "You know I have it on great authority that eggplant isn't very good for your nasal passages." He pointed towards her nose. "Especially if it gets lodged in there." The amusement was clearly dancing in his eyes.

Sara was having a hard time not smiling as she swatted his hand away from her face. "Oh, really?"

He nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "Just last week, Doc Robbins found a rather large piece lodged in a victim's nasal passages. He determined cause of death as eggplant asphyxia."

Sara let out a full blown chortle. "You're full of it."

He grinned and started laughing. "Maybe so, but you eat slow." He was contemplating taking her last few bites of Eggplant Delight, but he wasn't overly fond of tofu and there was a rather large chunk of it remaining.

Sara scoffed. "I may eat slow, but at least I don't pack it away like it's going out of style." She furrowed her brow and gave him a once over. "It's a wonder you can stay fit and eat that much."

Nick leaned towards her and held up his arm, flexing one of his biceps at eye level. "Just taking care of these babies." He winked at her and then let out a chuckle as she rolled her eyes.

She popped another bite into her mouth and decided that she didn't want to risk Nick cracking another joke so she set her plate down on his coffee table and slowly pivoted on the couch towards him. "Thanks for dinner." She smiled. "I'll have to buy it next time."

"No problem." He raised an eyebrow at her. "So when did you take up these non-law enforcement related hobbies?"

She smirked a bit self consciously. "During my forced vacation."

Nick nodded in understanding. She'd filled him in a week into her leave after he'd left three or four messages on her answering machine wondering why she had suddenly taken time off of work and hadn't told anyone. He had felt guilty that he hadn't noticed that something was wrong, especially the night that she'd been picked up for DUI after she gone out for drinks with him and Warrick. After that he'd made a point to spend time with her and be the friend that he wanted to be, trying to make up for how he felt he should have been acting in the months prior to the incident.

Sara continued. "So they had this 'Trading Spaces' marathon on TLC and I gut sucked in." She let out a soft laugh.

He grinned at her. "I can't believe that people give up control of their homes like that, especially when they put things like hay on the walls."

She nodded, her eyes widening. "Did you see the one where Hilde put feathers on the walls of this couple's bedroom? It was hideous."

"I seem to have missed that one." Nick was highly amused at how Sara seemed to light up as she talked about something other than forensic journals and police scanners. While the near DUI was not a good thing, it seemed to have served as a catalyst to bring some good things into her life. Seeing her like this was nice, and not for the first time since he'd seen her in Home Depot the thought occurred to him that he should test the waters and see if she might be receptive to more than just friendship.

Sara smirked. "Hey, we need to get your ceiling fan installed. Where's it going?" She glanced up at the fixture above them in the living room and wondered if there would be enough clearance for the blades since it was so close to the exposed wood beams that ran throughout the house on the ceiling.

"My bedroom." Nick stood and didn't notice the hint of color in Sara's cheeks as he gestured down the hallway. "I've been using another fan for the longest time since the AC doesn't seem to do a very good job in there, and I finally decided to just install a ceiling fan." He stepped towards where he had set the box with the fan down on the floor.

Sara stood up and followed as he carried the box down the hall. "Ok, so what do we do first?" She looked at him quizzically as he set the box down on the floor of his bedroom. As much as she'd watched 'Trading Spaces' they never seemed to be installing ceiling fans, merely removing them.

He glanced at the ceiling and then pointed to the light fixture. "Well, after we pull all of the pieces out and see how this thing goes together, we need to cut the power to the room and remove the other fixture." He began to open the box, tossing the assembly instructions to the side.

It occurred to Sara that it was already past ten and it was dark outside, if they cut the power they wouldn't be able to see. She cleared her throat until he looked up at her. "So you're planning on installing this using the Braille method then." She had an impish smirk on her face.

He just shook his head, trying to keep a serious expression on his face. "No, I was gonna make you hold a flashlight."

She looked at him for a long moment wondering if he was serious when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards.


	4. Chapter 4

"Well that was harder than I thought it would be." Nick commented wryly as he stepped off of the ladder underneath where the lighting fixture had been attached to his bedroom ceiling. The battery powered work lights cast an eerie glow as he dusted his hands off onto his jeans and glanced over at Sara.

Sara stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and a thoughtful expression on her face. "What did they do, attach it with super glue?"

Nick let out a half laugh and smiled. "Sure seemed like it. It's a good thing that I've got some spackle leftover from when I repainted last year."

Sara furrowed her brow as she studied the crack in the sheetrock above their heads. "Do you have leftover paint too?"

Nick rested his hands on his hips and chuckled. "I bet you didn't realize what you were getting yourself into."

She smirked at him. "Well at least we're not sticking feathers on your walls." She had wondered what it would be like to get on 'Trading Spaces' and after the amount of time it had taken to remove one light fixture, she was certain that she wouldn't have the patience to do an entire room in two days, especially with a camera crew following her around.

Nick gestured towards the pieces of the ceiling fan that he had laid out in order of assembly on the bed. "You want to hand me the base of that?" He reached for the drill as he climbed back up onto the ladder.

Sara grabbed the base of the fan and walked over to the ladder. "Do you have another ladder?" From the looks of things, Nick was going to need a third hand near the ceiling and unless she suddenly grew an extra three feet, Sara was going to need something to stand on besides the floor.

Nick glanced at the ladder and then glanced at Sara, his brow furrowed. "Uh, no." He glanced at the ladder again. There was no way they could both stand on it safely since it had steps only on one side.

Sara quirked an eyebrow. "How about a chair?" She tilted her head slightly as she looked at him expectantly. She knew that sharing a ladder with him would be dangerous on several levels.

"Uh, yeah." He set the drill down on top of the ladder and climbed down. "I'll get a chair from the dining room."

Before Sara could say anything in response, Nick had headed out of the door of the bedroom to retrieve a chair. In the few moments he was gone, she glanced around his room, noting the decidedly masculine décor as well as the photos of what she assumed were his family on the walls. She was studying one photo in particular as Nick walked back into the room carrying a chair.

"That was from my niece Kelly's high school graduation a few years back." He pointed to the dark haired young woman at the center of the photo wearing a cap and gown surrounded by a large group of people. "She's my sister Lauren's oldest daughter." He pointed to a woman wearing a proud smile and who bore a striking resemblance to Nick.

Sara glanced over at him and smiled. "I knew you had a big family, I just didn't realize it was that big."

Nick chuckled at her. "Well, when you've got six siblings and they're all married and all have kids, it tends to add up." He pointed to another photo on the wall which looked a little more dated. "This one is just of my sisters and brother and I."

Sara smirked at the attire they were all wearing in the photo. "I'm going to assume from the hair that this was when you were in high school."

Nick feigned a hurt expression. "That hair was cool when I was in high school."

"You just keep telling yourself that." Sara quipped back with a chuckle. "Your current look is a vast improvement."

He placed the chair next to the ladder and glanced over at her. "So you think I'm good looking then." He phrased it more as a smug statement than as a question.

Sara wasn't sure what to say for a moment as she felt her cheeks warming again. She put on her best amused expression and ignored his comment as she climbed up on the chair. "Ok, let's do this."

Nick just shook his head at her reluctance to respond to his comment and swallowed a smile as he climbed back up on the ladder. "If you could just hold that up there while I connect the wiring real quick I can get it secured to the ceiling."

Real quick wasn't exactly how it happened. Sara had been holding the base up near the ceiling for what her arms felt was an eternity and they were beginning to fall asleep. She glanced at Nick who was deep in concentration. "Nick?"

He glanced up. "Yeah?"

"I'm losing the feeling in my arms." She had the most un-Sara-like expression on her face as her lower lip seemed to stick out slightly in a pout.

It was all Nick could do to not laugh. He pursed his lips together and then smiled. "Almost done." He was not about to tell her that he'd discovered a hook about midway through the installation that would have held the fixture up while he was attaching the wiring. He kind of liked having her standing so close while she was helping him out.

"Ok, hurry." Her brows furrowed together.

Nick quickly screwed the fixture to the ceiling and then set the drill down on top of the ladder. Sara still had her arms up in the air. He let out a chuckle. "You can put them down now."

Sara looked over at him and let out a soft laugh and then a wince as she let her arms down and the circulation began to return. "I hate this part."

"Prickly sensation?" Nick looked at her in understanding as he stepped off the ladder.

She nodded, contemplating getting down off of the chair without the use of her arms or just waiting a few moments until the feeling returned.

Nick didn't really give her a chance to decide, he stepped over to her and wrapped an arm around her legs, pulling her over his shoulder for a moment as he lifted her off the chair and deposited her on the floor, his hand resting on her butt momentarily until he was sure she was on her feet.

The sensation of Nick's hand on her butt and the feel of his strong body against hers for that brief moment caused color to flush Sara's cheeks as she tried to keep from smiling. "I could have gotten down you know."

He winked at her and then smirked. "I know. I just thought I'd help."


	5. Chapter 5

"Please remind me of this experience if I'm ever tempted to buy and install a ceiling fan." Sara smirked at Nick as he attached the glass shade onto the light fixture of the fan and then stepped down off of the ladder to admire his work.

"C'mon, it wasn't that bad." He teased with a grin. "Besides, you got to spend the night with me." He let out a guffaw and dodged as she swatted at him and stepped off of the chair adjacent to the ladder.

"You already have a big enough ego." She couldn't keep herself from smiling though. She was having a good time and she knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with her home improvement skills.

He gestured towards the newly installed fan as he looked at Sara. "What do you say we see if all of our hard work paid off?"

"It better have paid off, it took us long enough to put that thing up." She smirked at him in amusement as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He just shook his head and chuckled as he headed out of his bedroom and down the hall towards where the circuit breaker was located. He was very glad that he'd run into Sara at the Home Depot, and if he was being honest, he was very thankful for the way her jeans hugged her snuggly and her shirt rode up every so often. She seemed to have no idea just how sexy he found that. When he returned to his bedroom a few minutes later, he found a curious site.

Sara was laying on top of his bed, her arms over her head and a smile on her face. The fan was spinning quite nicely. She smiled at him and gestured towards the fan. "It works."

He tried to restrain the smile that threatened to creep across his face. "I can see that." He stepped a little closer to the bed, wisely keeping any cracks about getting her into bed to himself.

Sara apparently wasn't reading his mind as she glanced over at him. "You should try it out, this is really nice. C'mon." She gestured towards the empty spot next to her, unaware that her Harvard T-shirt had ridden up a little and Nick was trying hard not to look at the small swath of her exposed abdomen.

Nick wasn't sure it was a good idea, but at that moment he really didn't care. He walked over and sat down on the bed, before lying down and stretching out next to Sara, closing his eyes for a moment as the breeze from the fan blew over them. He smiled and then glanced over at Sara as he opened his eyes. "This is really nice." In the back of his mind he wasn't sure if he was talking about the fan or his proximity to Sara.

She smiled back at him and she suddenly realized that maybe this wasn't the best idea. Here she was lying in bed with one of her best friends, albeit fully clothed, and she wanted to kiss him in the worst way. She swallowed hard and thought about how she might get herself out of the situation without revealing her thoughts to him.

Nick's cheeky comment broke the ice. "So you know Greg would be jealous if he could see me now."

Sara grinned and let out a bit of a scoff as she turned onto her side to smack Nick.

He caught her hand midair, a grin of his own firmly etched on his face. He was about to say something else as he turned to face her when he saw something in her eyes that took him a bit by surprise. His words never made it to his mouth.

Sara wasn't sure how long they lay there looking at each other, but the sensation of her hand in his was electrifying, and perhaps it was this that gave her a bit of extra courage as she felt herself leaning her face closer to his, her eyes darting to his lips as her tongue unconsciously flicked out and wet her lips.

It was something he had wanted to do for longer than he cared to admit. He leaned in and softly kissed Sara, his hand still holding onto hers. The softness of her lips took him by surprise and as she returned his kiss, he felt her free hand come to rest on his shoulder, her fingers gently gripping it as she seemed to slide her body a bit closer to his. He brought the hand that enveloped hers up to his chest and he felt his heart speeding up a bit.

It had really only been a few seconds but to Nick it had seemed a bit longer when he finally pulled away and looked into Sara's eyes. He knew that they had crossed a line and he hoped in the depths of his heart that she didn't regret it; this wasn't exactly how he had pictured testing the waters, but at the same time, she seemed receptive. He watched for a moment as she unconsciously wet her lips and then smiled as she leaned towards him again.

The fluttering sensation that Sara felt in the pit of her stomach just before Nick had kissed her intensified as she leaned towards him and pressed her lips back against his. Here she was kissing one of her best friends in his bed; definitely dangerous territory. In the back of her mind she wondered if Nick was just taking advantage of an opportunity or if he really wanted more between them, because if it was the former rather than the latter, this was a bittersweet way to ruin a wonderful friendship. It was with this thought that she pulled back and her eyes widened, searching his.

His brow furrowed and he caressed her hand with his thumb trying to reassure her. He pulled it up to his mouth and kissed it before he released it from his grasp, his hand reaching over and resting gently on her hip. The soft steady hum of the ceiling fan was the only sound in the room other than their breathing. He studied the uncertainty in her expression and felt his own doubt and insecurity surfacing. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "Hey." His gaze was intense as he searched her eyes.

Sara's mouth twitched upwards into a smile. "Hey." She wasn't sure what to say but found it amusing that the two kisses they'd shared had rendered them both nearly speechless.

Nick cleared his throat, his thumb unconsciously caressing Sara's side as her shirt rode up slightly. He furrowed his brow. "Should we be doing this?" He was really voicing his own worries about how this would affect their friendship.

Sara watched his expression. She could see both uncertainty and adoration in his eyes and at that realization she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we should be doing this." She couldn't hold back the grin that spread across her face as she watched Nick's expression change and a grin overtook his face as well.

"Well, Sara Sidle, you do think I'm good looking." There was a smug satisfaction in his tone as he teased her and then leaned over and kissed her again.

Sara giggled against his lips at his cheeky comment, and she pulled away from him only to find that he'd snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer. She grinned at him. "Yeah, you may be good looking, but I know you think I'm hot."


	6. Chapter 6

Nick looked at Sara for a moment as he held her close. A serious expression spread across his face. "I have a little confession to make. I don't really cruise the aisles at Home Depot looking for hot women."

She bit her lower lip to keep from giggling.

"I mean I definitely think you're attractive, Sara. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you that for a while now." His brow was furrowed and he looked far too serious as he continued to ramble. "It's just that I wasn't sure you'd feel the same way, and I wasn't about to just hit on you and risk ruining our friendship.

Sara was completely amused at his need to explain himself and she finally pressed her lips against his to silence him. Nick seemed to get the message fairly quickly, responding eagerly to her kiss.

As he pulled away a few minutes later, Nick let out a soft chuckle. "You already knew that didn't you?"

Her hands rested on his shoulders and Nick's arms had completely encircled her waist. She smirked. "I was pretty sure you didn't go to Home Depot to pick up women, but I didn't know until just now that you've felt that way about me."

It occurred to Nick that he really didn't know for sure how Sara felt about him. He was fairly certain that she wasn't the type cross that boundary of friendship unless she was feeling something, but she hadn't really said anything except that she definitely thought they should be doing this. The problem was, Nick wasn't sure what 'this' was supposed to mean. Did it mean kissing, or was she implying far more. He was a wise enough man to not press the issue, especially since she was his friend and they worked together; there was no room to confuse the lines when they were around each other this much.

"Why are you so quiet?" Sara looked at him with a slightly perplexed expression on her face.

He realized that he'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't said anything after her last statement. He smiled softly at her and cleared his throat, a little embarrassed. "I was just thinking."

She raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask him to elaborate.

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea here." He knew the second the words were out of his mouth that she was probably going to take them wrong.

Sara tensed.

Nick shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that." He smiled nervously. "It's just the location. Maybe we should go in the other room. As sexy as I find you, I'm not sure that this is the best place to explore us." Panic flashed across his face at how that must have sounded. "I mean what's going on between us, what we're feeling I mean."

Sara was completely amused at how flustered he was. She leaned in and kissed him softly and then pulled away, a smile on her face. "I understand. We probably should talk about this instead of making out in your bed if we want to still be speaking to each other in the morning."

Nick let out an uncertain chuckle. "Something like that." He cleared his throat again and loosened his hold on her. "I should put the work lights away anyway."

Sara smirked and let her hands slide down his biceps before rolling onto her back and glancing over at him. "I'll put the chair back in your dining room." She glanced up at the ceiling fan and then back over at him. "We really did do a good job."

Nick pulled himself off of the bed and grinned. "Yes we did."

As Nick disappeared down the hall carrying the work lights, Sara sat up and touched her lips as a smile spread across her face. She wasn't really sure exactly what was happening between her and Nick, but she definitely wanted to explore it further and as much as the idea of staying in his bed appealed to her, she knew that they both needed to know exactly where this was going to ensure they didn't harm their friendship in the process. She stood up and walked towards the door, picking up the dining room chair on the way.

There was a bit of an awkward silence as Nick walked into the living room and locked eyes with Sara who had just returned the chair to its place at the dining room table. He smiled at her and then gestured towards the kitchen. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry again."

She smirked and then let out a soft chuckle. "Food might be good."

"I could order something. We could go out. I'm not sure what's in the cupboards." Nick was rambling again. He had never been quite this flustered by a woman before, but then none of them had been Sara; this was the first time he'd fallen for someone who was his friend first.

Sara regarded him with a bit of amusement at how nervous he seemed to be. A smile flickered across her face as she stepped towards him and reached out and touched his cheek with her fingertips. "Nick, it's just me."

He smiled at her. "I know." She seemed to be the picture of calm and that made him even more nervous.

She leaned up and pressed her lips to his in a sweet kiss, caressing his cheek with her fingers as she pulled away and looked into his eyes. "I'm nervous too, but we'll just take this slow, ok?"

He grinned at her. "You don't look nervous."

She smirked at him. "I'm a good actress."

Nick let out a deep laugh. "Yeah, you are. I would never had guessed that you were nervous about this. You seem so calm."

"Why wouldn't I be nervous?" She looked at him curiously. "You're one of my best friends. It's risky to go from being friends to lovers." Now it was her turn to fumble with her words. "Ok, so we're not lovers yet, but we will be, I mean we're moving that way, aren't we?"

The word 'yet' clicked in Nick's brain and he couldn't wipe the grin off of his face at the prospect of crossing that line, someday, hopefully sooner rather than later. He leaned in and kissed her, maybe a little too long if he was being honest with himself. He pulled away, the grin still clearly etched on his face. "Ok, we're going out then because I'm not sure I trust myself to be alone with you right now." Nick confessed, his thoughts drifting to just how good she had felt in his arms as they lay in his bed kissing and just how much more he wanted.

A hint of color infused Sara's cheeks. "Ok then, out it is."


	7. Chapter 7

A half hour later, Nick and Sara were sitting next to each other in a booth at the diner near the lab devouring omelets. Nick could not keep the grin off of his face at the thought that Sara Sidle actually wanted to be with him. He had liked her since the day he'd met her, but there seemed to be some unwritten rule that Grissom had some claim to her. She, however, had made it abundantly clear that she wanted to be with him, there was no mistaking that in her kiss.

"You know we never did spackle your ceiling where the sheetrock cracked." Sara commented as she took a sip from her cup of coffee, conscious of the fact that her thigh was pressed flush against Nick's.

Nick let out a chuckle. "Well it would probably be a good idea if I did that by myself." He winked at her, nudging her with his elbow.

Sara swallowed her coffee and set the cup down, doing a horrible job at trying to swallow her slightly embarrassed smile. "Good point."

"Besides, I need to repaint the ceiling anyway, so I'll probably just wait until I get around to doing that before I spackle it." He took a sip from his own cup of coffee, still incredulous that he and Sara were an item.

Neither one of them noticed the bell on the door jingling as another patron entered the diner. It wasn't until there was someone standing at the end of their table that either one of them glanced up.

"You two don't get enough of this place that you have to come here on your night off?" Warrick looked mildly amused at the fact that they were sitting side by side in the booth instead of opposite each other.

"Hey, Rick." Nick glanced at him quizzically "Aren't you still on shift?"

Warrick nodded, noting the relaxed and cozy demeanor of his two friends. "Yeah, I'm on a food run while I'm waiting for DNA results. What are you two up to?" His curiously raised eyebrow and the tone of his voice implied that he got the impression that something was going on between the pair.

Sara couldn't keep her smile from widening. "I helped Nick install a ceiling fan in his bedroom." In the back of her mind she reasoned that the thirty-five cents she had spent on the lamp with the missing finial was the best buy she'd ever made, because without it she might not have run into Nick at Home Depot.

"Well I hope you're done because I have a feeling that Grissom just might call at least one of you in. Got a pretty nasty case earlier and looks like we're all pulling doubles." Warrick's laid back tone belied the thoughtful intelligence that lay behind his green eyes.

Nick glanced over at Sara, a smile spreading across his face unbidden. "Maybe we should just swing by the lab when we're done eating and save him the trouble."

She nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good idea." She felt the corners of her mouth tugging upwards as she focused in on Nick's lips for a moment.

Warrick cleared his throat. "Mind if I sit down until my order's ready or did you two want to be alone?" Amusement was evident in his tone and in his expression.

Nick let out a laugh and leaned back in the booth. "Have a seat." He glanced over at Sara and grinned again. "We've already been alone enough tonight."

Sara's cheeks tinged a little pink as she forked a bit of omelet and popped it into her mouth.

As Warrick sank his lanky frame into the seat across the booth from Nick and Sara, he put on his best investigative face and cut to the chase. "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?" He just wanted to hear them voice what he found obvious based on the evidence.

Nick nudged Sara with his elbow and grinned at her.

She let out a soft chuckle and looked at Warrick with a smile. "Uh, Nick and I decided we should see each other."

Nick casually slung an arm over her shoulder as he regarded his friend on the other side of the booth. "Actually, I picked her up wandering the aisles of Home Depot and she couldn't resist my charm."

Sara elbowed him in the ribs and let out a giggle. "I wasn't wandering. I was looking for a finial."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Which I helped you find."

She turned to look at him and smiled. "Yes, you did."

Warrick let out a deep chuckle. "It's about time one of you did something."

Both Nick and Sara looked over at him with surprised expressions.

Warrick quirked an eyebrow. "Don't even tell me that you two haven't been flirting for the last four years."

Neither one of them said a word because they both knew that they were guilty as charged. And before Warrick could say anything else, Nick's cell phone started to ring. He pulled it off his belt and glanced at the caller ID before he answered. "Hey, Gris, I'm just around the corner at the diner, Warrick told Sara and I that you might need us to come in." There was a lengthy pause as Nick listened to their supervisor. "Yeah, she's right here." Another shorter pause. "We'll be there as soon as I pay the bill." With that he ended the call.

While Nick was on the phone, the waitress had brought Warrick his order. He unfolded himself from the booth and gestured towards the door. "I'll see you two at the lab then."

Nick waved to Warrick and then turned to Sara and spoke in a conspiratorial tone, mischief dancing in his eyes. "It's a good thing we decided to go out to eat. I would have hated to get interrupted."

Sara leaned in to kiss him softly, smirking as she pulled away and looked into his eyes. "There will be plenty of time for that at a later date, and we'll make sure that we can't get interrupted."


	8. Chapter 8

Nick wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting in the AV lab with Archie going over video footage from the scene of a multiple homicide that the rest of the team had worked earlier in the shift, he just knew that it was already well past the end of the nightshift. They were trying to isolate the faces of the two gunmen that had burst into a 24-hour mini-mart and had opened fire, killing both cashiers, one patron, and had critically wounded two others. Archie had been glad for the help when Nick had walked in.

Nick felt a pair of hands descend on his shoulders and a smile began to tug at his lips; he didn't need to turn around to know that it was Sara. "Do you need a ride back to your ride?"

Sara began to gently massage Nick's shoulders, a gesture that didn't escape Archie's notice. "I was just going to see how long you were going to be. I think I left my keys inside your house, so I'm going to have to wait until you're done unless Grissom comes up with something else for me to do."

Nick glanced at Archie out of the corner of his eye noticing the telltale smile on the tech's face. He turned his head to look at Sara over his shoulder. "I'm not really sure how long I'm gonna be." He furrowed his brow. "I could take you over there and just come back."

Sara smiled. "I can wait." She glanced over at Archie who had remained silent. "Or I could help."

Finally Archie interjected. "Nick, you live, what, ten minutes away?"

"Yeah." Nick answered, trying to keep his smile at bay.

"In a half hour I should have this rendered so we can see your suspects a little more clearly." He turned to Nick and Sara, giving them a knowing smile. "There's not much more you can do until then anyway."

Nick let out a soft chuckle. "Thanks, man."

"Thanks Archie." Sara couldn't keep from smiling as Nick stood up and turned to face her.

He grinned at her. "Let's go then." He figured that with a ten minute drive to his house and ten minute ride back, he'd have a good ten minutes to spend some quality time alone with Sara, maybe more if he drove fast.

They were on their way down the hallway towards the front door of the lab when a somewhat frazzled looking Grissom intercepted them. "Sara, I need you to go meet Warrick at the scene to help transport some additional evidence back to the lab."

She gestured back towards Nick and looked at Grissom with a slightly perplexed expression. "I left my SUV at Nick's and my keys are in his house."

Grissom didn't look especially pleased at the news and Nick wasn't sure if it was because Nick had been spending time alone with Sara or if he was just so engrossed in the case that what few people skills the man possessed had been discarded temporarily.

Nick stammered. "I was going to take her there and come right back. Archie won't have anything from the video we've been working on for about another half hour or so."

Grissom looked at Nick over the rim of his glasses and from the softening of his facial expression it appeared that he'd realized that his tone had been a bit sharp. "Fine." Other than that his expression was unreadable.

Nick and Sara made their way out into the parking lot and as she walked a little ahead of him, he couldn't seem to stop watching how her jeans hugged her in quite a flattering manner. There was just something about those jeans and that T-shirt that he found incredibly sexy and the memory of holding her in his arms as they kissed brought a smile to his face. It wasn't until they were almost at his Denali that Nick realized that his jeans were starting to hug him too, but not in a way that he wanted to announce to the entire world; or to Sara for that matter.

Sara didn't seem to notice as she slipped into the passenger side of the vehicle, at least until Nick was moving a little too carefully getting into the driver's seat. She smirked, her cheeks a little pink. "Having a problem there?" One of her eyebrows was raised and she gave every indication that she knew exactly what Nick's problem was.

Nick let out an embarrassed laugh, his cheeks turning a little red. "Nothing I can't handle." He wisely kept his attention straight ahead rather than to glance over at the reason why he was having discomfort in the first place.

"You sure about that?" Sara seemed to be enjoying this a little too much as she let out a giggle.

Nick just cleared his throat and turned on the ignition. The ten minute drive to his house seemed far longer as he tried to shift his weight to ease his discomfort which seemed to be increasing.

Sara kept stealing glances at him, trying to keep the smug smile off of her face at the effect she was having on him.

He pulled into his driveway and cast Sara a sidelong glance, speaking through slightly gritted teeth. "Do you want to just take my keys so you can go find yours?"

Sara smirked. "Archie won't have anything for you for at least another twenty minutes and it's only a ten minute drive back to the lab."

Nick closed his eyes and let out a groan. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me right now?"

Sara feigned innocence as she reached for the door handle. "Why don't you tell me."

Nick just shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. "Darlin', you have the sexiest little ass and those jeans of yours are hugging it in all the right places."

Sara tried to swallow a smile unsuccessfully. "Maybe you should just give me your keys then."

"Why don't I?" He smirked at her and then pulled the keys out of the ignition, handing them over to Sara. "I'll just wait here." At the moment he really didn't trust himself to alone inside of his house with her.

Sara began to climb out of the SUV, but paused and looked back at Nick with a mischievous grin. "You know, you can't go back to the lab like that. You're going to have to do something about it."

Nick glanced over at her with a pained smiled. "Unless you're offering to help, Sar, I'm staying here until you're gone."


	9. Chapter 9

By the time Nick returned to the AV lab, forty-five minutes had elapsed since he and Sara had left. Getting his libido under control had taken a little more time than he had anticipated since Sara seemed to have a little trouble remember exactly where she'd left her keys in his house and enlisted his help, finally finding them under the coffee table. That and at least half a dozen kisses later followed by some time spent alone and he finally returned to the lab.

Archie glanced up as Nick entered. "Wasn't sure you were coming back." There was a knowing smile on the tech's face.

Nick cleared his throat. "Sara couldn't find her keys."

Archie let out a soft chuckle. "I lost my keys a lot when Kate and I started dating."

Nick couldn't keep the smile off of his face, but changed the subject. "So, did you get the image rendered?"

Archie nodded with a smile. "Take a look here." He selected an area of the image and pointed at what he was referring to. "At first I wasn't sure we were going to get much, but there's a clear reflection of his face in the glasses of one of the cashiers before he opened fire. The other one I'm still trying to work on."

Nick furrowed his brow and glanced over at Archie. "Can you print that out?"

"Already done." Archie reached over and pick up a printout of the image that he'd enhanced.

"How long until you think you might have something on the other one?" Nick queried without glancing up.

"Ten or fifteen minutes. I'm just trying to see if the door reflected the image of the other one." Archie offered.

"Yeah, thanks man." Nick stood to leave so that he could show Grissom what he'd found.

"So, Nick, if you don't mind me asking, how long have you and Sara been together?" Archie looked at Nick curiously.

Nick let out a nervous chuckle and tried to swallow his smile. "Not very long."

A few moments later Nick stood in the doorway of Grissom's office. The nightshift supervisor glanced up as he sensed the presence of someone standing there. "What do you have, Nick?"

"Archie was able to get a fairly good image of one of the killers. He's working on the other." Nick knew that Grissom probably hadn't had much sleep, but wouldn't go home until he'd run down every lead that they had.

"Good." Grissom rubbed his temples for a moment and then gestured to Nick. "Have a seat for a moment, Nicky."

Nick immediately knew that Grissom wanted to ask him about Sara. He seldom called him Nicky unless he was pulling the father knows best card out of his pocket. He took a seat and waited for Grissom to say something further.

Grissom looked at him over the rim of his glasses, clearing his throat before speaking. "What exactly is the nature of your relationship with Sara?"

Nick wondered if he was asking because he was jealous or if he was asking because he wanted to be an informed supervisor, or perhaps a mixture of both. He leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees, fingers laced together. "Well, Gris, Sara and I are seeing each other."

Grissom nodded; his expression unreadable. "I trust that this relationship won't interfere with your work." He raised an expectant eyebrow at Nick.

Nick smiled at his supervisor. He knew that his concerns were valid, but he also sensed a protective tone with regards to Sara coming through. "I can assure you that our personal life will not interfere with being professional on the job." He stood; handing Grissom the printout of the image Archie had given him. "I need to get back to the AV lab."

Grissom didn't say another word and returned his attention to the photos he'd been pouring over when Nick had walked in.

Nick just shook his head to himself as he walked back down the hallway. He nearly collided with Greg. "Hey, man, sorry."

Greg looked a little annoyed. "So is it true?"

Nick looked at him a little confused. "Is what true?" It wasn't unusual for Greg to start in the middle of a thought and work his way backwards.

"You and Sara." Greg stood there with an expression that looked as if he expected Nick to deny it.

Nick couldn't keep the smile from his face. "Yeah, it's true."

"And I had to hear it from Warrick." Greg looked somewhat put out. He and Nick were friends and that was exactly the kind of news that he expected to hear first hand.

Nick let out a soft chuckle and spoke in a low voice. "Look, we just started dating, ok? It's not even twenty-four hours old."

Greg's eyebrows curved upwards in surprise. "So you weren't keeping it from me then." It was well known that Greg had been carrying a torch for Sara since he'd met her, but she just wasn't interested in him that way.

Nick shook his head. "I wouldn't do that to you man."

Greg smiled. "I got your back." He turned and disappeared as quickly as he'd emerged from the DNA lab.

Nick continued on down the hallway, his thoughts returning to Sara. A smile spread across his face and he inwardly cursed the perpetrators of the crime they were investigating for interrupting his time alone with Sara. He reasoned that if Grissom hadn't sent her to the crime scene to help Warrick and if he wasn't working on the video with Archie, that things might have been a little different inside his house.

_He had been sitting in his SUV for a good five minutes when Sara had emerged from his house with a frustrated expression on her face._

"_What's wrong, Sar?" Nick looked at her with concern._

"_I can't seem to find my keys." A tiny smile began to play at her lips. "I didn't pay attention to where I set them down and I've looked in the living room and your bedroom and still can't find them._

_At the mention of his bedroom, Nick felt himself getting excited again. "Well I guess I'd better help you find them." He descended from the vehicle and followed Sara back into the house._

_They searched the living room, then walked back to the bedroom, giving it a good once over before emerging into the hallway. It was there that Sara had pulled him into a kiss and they had spent some quality time becoming reacquainted until Nick decided that they'd better stop._

_He cleared his throat and pulled away, his voice rather husky. "We need to wait."_

_Sara furrowed her brow, her lips were slightly swollen from their kisses and she couldn't find a single reason she wanted to wait at that moment; she could tell just exactly how much Nick didn't want to wait either._

"_We have to work." Nick stated simply, placing a kiss on her forehead._

_She nodded and stepped away, moving towards the living room where she finally spotted her keys on the floor under the coffee table._

Nick realized that his thoughts were putting his libido in overdrive again and he let out a curse under his breath and made a quick detour past the men's room before heading back to the AV lab.


	10. Chapter 10

Nick felt just about dead on his feet as he made his way out of the lab to his Denali. The shift had been long and they still had what seemed to be tons of evidence to process. Grissom had finally decided to send them all home to grab a few hours of sleep before the beginning of their next regular shift so they could approach things with fresh eyes and renewed energy. A few people from days had volunteered to cover so the nightshift crew could grab a couple extra hours of rest before coming back onto the clock. As he reached his Denali, Nick heard someone calling out his name and a smile spread across his face as his groggy mind realized that it was Sara. The last time he'd seen her was at his house when they'd gone back to get her keys, and he hadn't been able to get the moment in his hallway out of his mind since then.

Sara grinned at him as she approached. "You heading home?" There was something about the tone of her voice that implied that it wasn't just a simple question.

He nodded, returning her grin. "Yeah. I don't know about you, but I'm tired." He was tired, but even that couldn't diminish the fact that he was holding a grudge against the perpetrators of the crime they were investigating because they had hindered things between he and Sara.

"Oh." Sara's expression fell just slightly. "Are you hungry?" She tilted her head inquisitively. She knew that Nick could always eat, but that wasn't really why she was asking the question. Her mind had been on their frustrated encounter in his hallway earlier that they couldn't continue because they both had to work.

Nick let out a soft chuckle and reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I could eat." He wondered to himself what he had in his cupboards to eat and had a vague recollection that he had some sort of breakfast food sitting in his kitchen on the counter.

Sara plunged right ahead. "I was thinking that we could go to your house since it's closer." She was taking mental notes at how his T-shirt fit him well enough to show off his muscular physique and she didn't even want to think about his jeans. Her mind really wasn't on eating, it was on Nick.

"Sure, that sounds good." He was doing his best to keep from grinning at the way she was looking at him, and at the moment he didn't trust himself enough to kiss her in the parking lot for fear that things would get out of hand. "Meet you there?" As much as he wanted to be hopeful, he didn't want to presume that she wanted to come over for anything other than a meal.

Sara pursed her lips together and a faint hue of pink infused her cheeks. "I was thinking that maybe we could carpool."

It was at that point that Nick finally realized that she held a duffel bag in her hands; the same duffel bag that she kept in her locker with a change of clothes in it. The grin that he had tried to keep at bay let loose across his face and he quickly reached for the passenger door of his Denali. "I'll drive." Nick was certain that they only way he was going to be able to keep his hands to himself during the ten minute drive was to have them on the steering wheel of his SUV.

He made the ten minute drive in eight minutes and thirty-four seconds, pulling into his driveway in a haphazard fashion, garnering a mischievous grin from Sara as they descended from the vehicle.

The moment that Nick's front door was shut behind them, all thoughts of eating few right out the window. Nick's lips found Sara's and the only thought he could form was just how good Sara tasted.

Sara completely forgot about food, all she could think about was how good his lips felt against hers and how much she wanted to redefine the word 'slow'. She let out a whimper as she felt his tongue against her lips and as she opened her mouth to him, she knew she was gone.

There was no question in Nick's mind where this was heading, and even if he wanted to question it, all coherent thought had fled the moment that Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to deepen the kiss between them. From the way that she was responding, he was fairly certain that she wanted this just as much as he did. If there was any doubt, it went flying out the window a moment later when he felt Sara's hands slide down his chest and start tugging at the hem of his shirt.

They began to stagger step down the hallway, Sara not having much luck with Nick's shirt since neither one of them seemed to want to pull away long enough to discard it. It wasn't until Nick bumped into the wall that he let go of Sara and finished pulling his shirt over his head, flinging it in no particular direction. When they finally arrived in his bedroom, Nick managed to flip the switch on the ceiling fan as they stumbled towards his bed.

Sara's Harvard T-shirt that had offered Nick so much distraction made its way to the floor just before they tumbled onto his bed, his fingers fumbling to unfasten Sara's button fly jeans as they continued to kiss furiously.

The rest seemed to be a blur of images; Nick's weight pressing Sara into the mattress, the feel of flesh against flesh, and bliss sweet bliss.

A while later they lay tangled in Nick's sheets, the ceiling fan offering a cool breeze over their bodies. The comforter had found its way to the floor and Sara was using Nick's chest for a pillow as she lay nestled against him, an arm slung lazily over his waist.

Nick's fingers trailed up and down Sara's back as they both were still trying to process what had just transpired between them.

Sara smiled as she lifted her head to look at Nick. "I think we pretty much redefined the phrase 'taking things slow'." There was a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Slow is overrated." Nick added with a smile of his own. "Besides, we've been flirting for four years. I think that's more than enough foreplay."

_**The End**_

Author's Note: Special thanks to the folks at Home Depot who couldn't seem to help me find a finial for my thirty-five cent garage sale lamp, and thus provided the inspiration for this story. Thank you to Mel for giving me input on the story (even if neither one of us has any home improvement knowledge). Thank you to all of my faithful readers; each and every one of you is appreciated for taking the time out of your day to read my work. And a special thanks to the Boston Red Sox who I hope sweep St. Louis in the World Series


End file.
